George Marshall and the American Century (1993)
George Marshall and the American Century(Direct Cinema Limited, 1993) I consider George Marshall one of the truly great Americans of the 20th century. He played a quintessential military role before and during WW II, then, after retirement, was called back as Secretary of State and namesake of the Marshall Plan. Once again he was recalled from retirement at the outbreak of the Korean war to serve as Secretary of Defense. Marshall was the only general to be awarded the Nobel peace prize.
Marshall’s sense of propriety and modesty preventing him from capitalizing financially on an autobiography or lucrative articles. Fortunately, Forrest Pogue was able to obtain Marshall’s participation for a superb four-volume biography that remains the definitive account of George Catlin Marshall’s extraordinary life of service.
Mr. Pogue is also a principal commentator in this masterful synthesis of General Marshall’s extraordinary life of dedicated service. To his great regret, Marshall never led troops in battle. In World War I he was commandeered into logistics and other staff work, which he performed brilliantly. This led to his working with General Pershing during the immediate post-WW I period. It seems curious that an individual of such talent and integrity could remain in the peacetime army during the Great Depression and the isolationist movement that severely restricted funds for the military. For Marshall, the nadir of this period was when he was assigned to command the ROTC in Illinois. Fortuitously, he was returned to Washington and assumed the position of Army Chief of Staff before the outbreak of World War II.
The documentary describes how and why General Marshall was so vital and personally selfless in directing the war and in providing the essential logistics. He became indispensable to President Roosevelt and was acknowledged as ‘special’ by Prime Minister Winston Churchill. That Eisenhower rather than Marshall became supreme commander of allied forces in Europe is testimony to Marshall’s modesty and sense of duty.
Marshall’s stint as Secretary of State covers the vital initial stages of the Cold War. The account of his foreign ministers’ meeting in Moscow, his unproductive conversation with Stalin, then his visit to the economic disaster of Western Europe was a forerunner to the Marshall Plan, which probably ‘saved’ Western Europe. One again he came out of retirement to recruit and train an army to respond to the Korean ‘police action.’
His acceptance speech in receiving the Nobel Peace Prize was unusual for a man who had been a career army officer. General Marshall was thrice responsible for Eisenhower’s ultimate success as the most lauded American WW II military leader. When Eisenhower, running for president, slighted Marshall during a visit to Senator Joseph McCarthy’s home state of Wisconsin, others were appalled at Eisenhower’s disloyalty towards his benefactor. General Marshall, keeping in character, never publicly discussed this incident.
